He said although Sri Lanka is a lower middle income country it has a better record of human development indices such as life expectancy, literacy rate and health sector. This was a model for the developing world.
The Prime Minister pointed out that the country’s Human Development Index (HDI) still remains high. Its HDI rank is 99 out of 177 countries. He stated this had been achieved while fighting a ruthless war against the LTTE terrorism for almost a quarter of century.
The drafting of a national Action Plan is an obligation cast on member countries by the SAARC Social Charter. He described the National Action plan as the main means to put into action the provisions in the Charter. Tracing the history of the Charter, he pointed out that Sri Lanka had played a major role in its preparation and adaptation.
“The targets are to be achieved in the areas of poverty eradication, population stabilisation, women empowerment, youth mobilisation, human resource development, promotion of health and nutrition and the protection of the children,” he said.
Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona regarded the social charter as one of the historic achievements of SAARC. He expressed hope that the implementation of the action plan would assist the people of the country to improve their living standards and economic conditions.
He said 2008 would be momentous for Sri Lanka as the country would host the 15th SAARC summit and become the SAARC Chair in its 60th Independence Anniversary year.
The National Coordination Committee (NCC) headed by the Secretary to the Prime Minister and SAARC Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched the Action Plan. High Commissioners and Ambassadors of the SAARC countries and representatives of the SAARC observer States were also present.
[Source: DAILY NEWS Sri Lanka]
Kabul to provide transit rights to Isb
ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan would provide transit rights to Pakistan to export its products to Central Asian Republics (CARs) through land route by incorporating amendments in the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA). Dr Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, Afghan Finance Minister said the other day at the sidelines of the Pak-Afghan Business Forum held at a local hotel. [Read More...]
Pak, Afghanistan to increase cooperation
Pakistan and Afghanistan, terming
extremism and terrorism their “common enemy”, vowed to
increase intelligence cooperation to bring peace and stability to their
countries and the region.
Speaking to journalists after an exclusive meeting,
which was followed by formal talks at the delegation level, President
Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid Karzai described their
meeting and talks as 'excellent' and 'productive'.
President Musharraf said improved cooperation
between intelligence agencies of both the countries was the key to
fighting extremism and terrorism. “The key to fighting and enhancing
our capability against terrorists and extremists is intelligence
cooperation. That’s the key. “The two intelligence agencies on both
sides must cooperate more strongly if we are to deal with terrorists and
extremists more effectively,” the president said.
He said besides militarily fighting the terrorists,
there is need for effective border control measures to check their
movement across the Pak-Afghan border. President Musharraf, replying to
a question, agreed that suicide bombings on the Pakistani side have
increased, as the degree of terrorism otherwise decreased. He said
besides this new concept of suicide bombing in the countryside that saw
an increase on the Pakistan side, there was an overflow of extremism and
terrorism from the tribal agencies to three settled districts in the
north, including Swat, Dir and Malakand, and five districts in the
south.
The president, however, mentioned that Pakistan has
effectively dealt with this overflow of terrorists in the Swat area and
succeeded in breaking the back of terrorists. “We have taken action in
the southern districts also and the situation is far better there,” he
added.
He, however, noted that the activity of training of
suicide bombers and militancy in North and South Waziristan continues,
whereas there has been a decrease on the Afghan side. “There is 42 per
cent decrease in the Taliban activity on the Afghan side, going from
Pakistan,” he added.
President Hamid Karzai termed the meeting
'productive
in all aspects' and hoped that both the governments will be able to
pursue the matters that “we have discussed into action and then
fruition”.
He said the two sides discussed the issues of vital
importance to both Afghanistan and Pakistan. “We discussed in
sincerity and to the manner that enhanced our understanding of the
problems that we have together and of the ways to tackle them.”
President Karzai said, “Afghanistan and Pakistan
are twins. More than that they are joints at the body ... and there is
no escape, fortunately, from this reality.” He hoped that the two
countries can strengthen these bonds and find out all the ways that
“we need to find to end the difficulties that we have.”
The Afghan president, emphasising the need to
tackle the issue of terrorism and extremism together, said, “people in
both the countries are suffering a lot and it is incumbent upon us —
the leadership of the two countries, the two governments — to find
ways to bring peace and stability to each home, each family in both
countries and that is the desire of both the nations.”
President Karzai further said that he was very
happy that President Musharraf was willing to help Afghanistan on the
question of wheat and flour, despite the fact that there is a problem in
Pakistan as well. He said the two sides also discussed the expansion of
relations in trade and transit and the educational matters. The Afghan
president thanked President Musharraf for giving 1,000 scholarships for
Afghan students to come and undertake higher studies in Pakistan and
also for rebuilding a number of schools in Afghanistan.
To a question, President Karzai agreed that there was reduced activity by the Taliban and al-Qaeda on the Afghan side in contrast to increased activity on the Pakistan side. “That is something we have discussed and we will continue to find out more about it and address these issues together,” he added.
[Source: The News]
